Scottish Executive

Drug Misuse

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its response to the review of drug rehabilitation services.

Hugh Henry: I refer the member to the answer to S2W-10713, answered on 29 September 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will support Seafood Scotland’s activities in the coming year and what support it has provided to Seafood Scotland in each of the last three years.

Ross Finnie: In 2002, the Scottish Executive awarded a grant of £145,000 to Seafood Scotland in support of the organisation’s activities. Applications from Seafood Scotland for the next round of Financial Instrument for the Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) awards have just been received and are currently under consideration.

  Scottish Enterprise has also funded Seafood Scotland activities on a project basis. Seafood Scotland received funding for some of the projects under the 2001 Scottish fish processors action plan. Scottish Enterprise Grampian have provided £216,960 support in 2002-03, £198,651 in 2003-04 and £26,077 in 2004-05. Support for other projects are planned for the future.

  In addition to the financial support awarded on a project basis, the Scottish Executive supports the excellent work of Seafood Scotland in a variety of non-financial ways, for example, through regular attendance at the Seafood Scotland board meetings.

Justice

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to restrict the sale and promotion of knives.

Cathy Jamieson: We are deeply concerned about the knife culture and its contribution to violent crime.

  There are already extensive provisions under the existing law which restrict the sale and promotion of knives.

  The Criminal Justice Act 1988 makes it an offence to sell to anyone under 16 any knife, blade, razor blade, axe, or any other bladed or sharply pointed article made or adapted for causing personal injury. That act also makes it an offence to import, manufacture, sell or hire a specified offensive weapon or expose or possess such a weapon for the purposes of sale or hire. The weapons which have been specified as offensive weapons include various types of knife such as butterfly knives and push daggers. The Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 makes it an offence to manufacture, sell or hire a flick knife or a gravity knife.

  In addition, the Knives Act 1997 makes it an offence to market a knife in a way which indicates that it is suitable for combat or in a way which is likely to encourage violent behaviour involving the use of the knife as a weapon.

  As promised in our Partnership Agreement, we are reviewing the enforcement of these measures.

Justice

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any examination has been undertaken in the last two years concerning the responses of the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates to recommendations made by the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman.

Hugh Henry: The Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman’s written report on a complaint, or Opinion, sets out her recommendation on a case, and is sent only to the complainant, the practitioner and the professional body as required by section 34A of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990. The Ombudsman’s annual reports for 2002-03 and 2003-04 record that the Law Society of Scotland accepted most of her recommendations to reconsider its decision, or re-investigate a complaint, and that the Faculty of Advocates refused to accept a particular recommendation in one case in 2002-03 and in two cases in 2003-04.

  The Ombudsman can also make advisory recommendations to the professional bodies in her annual report about their procedures for, and methods of, dealing with complaints. Section 34B of the 1990 act requires the professional bodies to consider such recommendations and to notify the Ombudsman of the results of that consideration and any action which they have taken, or propose to take, in consequence of the recommendation. The Ombudsman normally records in her annual report the responses made by the professional bodies to previous advisory recommendations and it is clear from previous reports that the majority of such recommendations have been accepted and implemented in recent years.

Justice

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the mandatory direction of accused persons to the Public Defence Solicitors’ Office will be reduced or abolished; if so, when and to what extent and, if not, what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Cathy Jamieson: Mandatory direction was abolished in June 2000 and there are no plans for it to be re-established.

Local Government Finance

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it allocated in total to (a) Renfrewshire Council, (b) East Renfrewshire Council, (c) East Dunbartonshire Council, (d) West Dunbartonshire Council, (e) Argyll and Bute Council and (f) North Ayrshire Council for (i) 2003-04 and (ii) 2004-05 and, of this, how much is ring-fenced.

Tavish Scott: The main funding from the Scottish Executive to local authorities is allocated through Aggregate External Finance (AEF). The allocations of AEF and the element ring-fenced through specific grants, are shown in the table below.

  

 
(i) 2003-04
(ii) 2004-05


AEF
(£m)
Specific Grants
(% of AEF)
AEF
(£m)
Specific Grants
(% of AEF)


(a) Renfrewshire Council
244.2
8.3
252.4
8.6


(b) East Renfrewshire Council
111.6
6.7
119.5
6.8


(c) East Dunbartonshire Council
134.1
7.2
141.7
7.3


(d) West Dunbartonshire Council
148.2
9.5
152.5
9.9


(e) Argyll and Bute Council
151.0
7.4
159.0
7.4


(f) North Ayrshire Council
197.0
7.4
203.2
7.8



  Specific grants ensure that local authorities spend a set amount of their total funding on essential functions, such as civil protection.

Marine Environment

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that any trials or use of the Sonar 2087 do not breach the terms of the EU Habitats Directive in the sea areas for which it has responsibility.

Allan Wilson: This question relates to a reserved matter which falls within the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence.

Prison Service

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of investment there was in each prison in each of the last five years.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The investment levels are recorded in the SPS Annual Report and Accounts which provide the following breakdown by type of expenditure. Disaggregating that expenditure by individual establishment could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  

 
Land & Building
(£m)
Motor Vehicles
(£m)
Plant & Equip
(£m)
Comp Equip
(£m)
Fixtures & Fittings
(£m)
Assets under Construction
(£m)
Intangible Assets
(£m)

Total
(£m)


1999-2000
12
0
2
3
0
10
0
27


2000-01
13
0
2
1
0
8
0
24


2001-02
7
0
2
0
0
15
0
24


2002-03
19
0
1
0
0
15
0
36


2003-04
14
0
1
0
0
19
0
34



  Investments during this period included:

  HMP Barlinnie: Upgrade of prisoner accommodation

  HMP Edinburgh: New prisoner accommodation

  HM YOI Polmont: New prisoner accommodation

  HMP Peterhead: Upgrade of prisoner accommodation.

Prison Service

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the prison officer to inmate ratio has been in each prison in each of the last six months, taking account of vacancies and sickness levels.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The information is not available.

  There is no predetermined staff to prisoner ration within SPS. The SPS staffing levels are made according to a range of factors including, security classification, design, business need and are subject to risk assessment and safe systems of work.

Prison Service

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to address issues raised following the visit to HM Prison Aberdeen by the Minister for Justice on 23 August 2004.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The Scottish Prison Service is aware of the issues relating to HM Prison Aberdeen. These are being addressed as part of the update of the Estates Strategy.

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7760 by Cathy Jamieson on 7 May 2004, what conclusion has been reached in respect of the notice received on 29 January 2004 under paragraph 6.8 of the Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd for the Design, Construction, Management and Financing of a Prison at Kilmarnock .

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  Kilmarnock Prison Services Limited subsequently advised SPS that they had obtained and placed insurance covers.

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9015 by Cathy Jamieson on 30 August 2004, what information is available to it to show that the contract for prisoner escort and court custody services is (a) cheaper and (b) better value than the previous system of escort and court custody provided by the Scottish Prison Service and the police, stating what type of information where the information itself is commercially confidential.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The evaluation conducted as part of the procurement and subsequently examined by the Auditor General compared the costs and benefits of the contract with those of the public sector comparator developed to represent the existing method of service provision. This evaluation confirmed that the contract offered better value for money over the period of the contract by a margin of about £20 million.

Rail Freight

Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what the criteria are for granting a company a rail freight subsidy for transferring from road to rail and how long such subsidies last.

Nicol Stephen: The following rail freight grant schemes operate in Scotland - the Freight Facilities Grant (FFG), Track Access Grant (TAG) and Company Neutral Revenue Support (CNRS) Grant schemes. These grants are available to encourage the transfer of freight from road to rail where without grant support the freight would be transported by road because the rail option is more costly. All are limited to the level of environmental benefits generated by using rail rather than road. The FFG scheme helps with the upfront capital costs of becoming linked to rail. TAG helps with the Track Access Charges made by Network Rail for, mostly, bulk commodities such as timber. CNRS provides help with the operating costs of transferring inter-modal containers by rail. Copies of the guidance for applicants are available in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. numbers 33921, 33922 and 33923).

  FFG is paid to applicants once they have incurred capital expenditure. The grants are based on rail being used for an agreed number of years, normally between three and ten, and are monitored for that set period. TAG and CNRS awards are normally limited to three years but may be extended.

Rail Network

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what improvements to Anglo-Scottish sleeper services were specified in the new ScotRail franchise agreement.

Nicol Stephen: Under the terms of the franchise agreement, the new operator is required to submit for approval a programme of improvements for the Anglo-Scottish sleeper services within six months of the franchise commencement date. These improvements are to be fully implemented by the end of 2006.

Road Signs

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to provide bilingual signage on roads in Gaelic and English, in particular on the A9.

  The member has provided the following Gaelic translation:

  A dh’ fhaighneachd de Riaghaltas na h-Alba dè tha e a’ dol a dhèanamh gus soidhnichean-rathaid dà-chànanach a chur suas anns a’ Ghàidhlig agus anns a’ Bheurla, gu h-àraid air an A9.

Nicol Stephen: Bilingual signing has been provided on the A830, A887 and A87 (Skye and the mainland) as part of a commitment given in June 2003 to sign a number of highland routes. A contract has just been awarded for the A835. Bilingual road signs will be provided on the remaining agreed routes by 2008, namely:

  A828 Ballachulish to Connel Bridge

  A85 Tyndrum to Oban

  A83 Tarbet to Kennacraig/Campbeltown

  A82 Tarbet to Inverness

  Our bilingual signage strategy has been agreed jointly with Highland Council and at present only involves routes which travel through Gaelic speaking communities. There are currently no plans to erect bilingual signs on the A9.

Roads

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when a decision will be made concerning the construction of a roundabout in Port Glasgow as part of the development plans for the waterfront.

Nicol Stephen: Road Orders giving legal authority for construction of three new roundabouts at Port Glasgow town centre came into force on 23 July 2004. Negotiations with the developers progressing the Port Glasgow town centre redevelopment scheme on the details of the work to the trunk road are expected to conclude shortly. Currently, the developer anticipates that construction of the scheme will commence towards the end of November 2004.

Scottish Executive Procurement

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to encourage its suppliers to procure goods and services that minimise any adverse impact on the environment.

Tavish Scott: The Scottish Executive is committed to playing a full role in Scotland’s sustainable development and has implemented comprehensive environmental policies in support of this goal. When we buy goods and services we aim to do so in a way which minimises impact on the environment. Whilst we have no control over suppliers’ own procurement policies, we actively encourage them to share our commitment to continuous environmental improvement through the provision of data.

  This policy is explained in more detail in Guidance for Suppliers on the sustainable development pages of the Scottish Procurement Directorate’s external website:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/FCSD/PCSD-POL/00017839/susdevguide.aspx.

Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has regarding the role of the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman with regard to the settlement of issues raised by complainers against members of the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates.

Hugh Henry: We are developing a reform agenda on complaints handling by the legal profession which builds on the recommendations made by the former Justice 1 Committee. We will issue a public consultation paper at the end of the year on firm proposals to improve the complaints handling system and to enhance the powers of the Ombudsman.